The Interviewer.

Southern Cross, Volume 8, Issue 31, 17 November 1900, Page 9

The Interviewer.

MUNICIPAL ACTIVITY IN GLASGOW. ITS TRAMS, PARKS, and MODEL LODGING HOUSES. Mr John Smyth, formerly master of the Waihopai school, and afterwards rector of the Waimate High School, returned to Invercargill a few weeks ago after a very successful scholastic career in Germany and Scotland, ending in his gaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. He is, we believe, the first New Zealand student to gain that distinction. In the coarse of conversation, Dr John Smyth, for so we must now call him, mentioned that he bad been struck by the changes noticeable in Glasgow and Edinburgh since his departure for New Zealand in 1882, and with characteristic geniality he gave some of his impressions and experiences on being assured that they would be of interest to readers of the Southern Cross. Dealing first with Glasgow,

Dr Smyth referred to the work done by the City Council in the improvement of the trams, the extension of the parks, and the reclamation of streets formerly the haunts of criminals and undesirable characters generally. Their aim had been to brighten and beautify the city and to ameliorate the conditions nndei which its toilers work and live. . A great cloud of smoke still hangs over it, but this is being gradually lessened by the application of scientific methods, and the Council sets a good example in the municipal laundries, which consume their own smoke, the Council thus acting on the principle that no one has a right to spoil the air his neighbour has to breathe. These laundries are part of the movement which has resulted in the establishment of workmen’s homes and model lodging house* When the Council took over the Tram System a few years ago they resolved to effect certain improvements, and to institute half-penny stages. Many people thought this would prove a disastrous financial mistake, but at the end of the first year the balance-sheet disclosed a gain of £BO,OOO. G-lasgow is one of the very few places in the world where Half-Penny Stages exist, and ladies can go shopping and gentlemen transact business all over the city for a trifling expenditure as compared with what they would pay in, say Melbourne, with its threepenny stages. The Conncil, after exhaustive experiments, and as the result of enquiries made in America and on the Continent, decided to adopt the overhead electric system for the trams, and by the time the exhibition opens in Glasgow next year it is hoped that horses will have given place to the new order of things. In Dublin, it was understood, the change from horses to electricity had resulted in a saving of £17,000 in the first half-year. The bnsiness-like manner in which ( Municipal Work

is carried out is very noticeable. The Council includes in its members the great manufacturers and city merchants, and everything is pnfc on a sound business footing. As with the tram system, so with the question of sewerage. Elaborate experiments and exhaustive inquiry as to the systems in use elsewhere, will be followed by the introduction of the best method. During the last few years the Council has acquired some very large areas for Pakks in the suburbs, ranging from 40 to 100 acres in extent. In some instances the Council had to buy gentlemen’s estates for the purpose. Two notable cases nay be cited. In the east end, in the direction of Tollcross, they bought the grounds of Mr Dunlop,

one of the great iron-founders of the Clyde Yalley, and laid them out in beautiful gardens. When in private hands a poor man was scarcely allowed to enter —now they are free to all. On the south side also another estate was acquired, house and all. The place was laid out as a park, and the mansion converted into a museum. In some cases lakes have been formed in the parks, and working men on Saturday afternoons can boat or have model yacht sailing—a favourite amusement with a good many. In addition to this, several of the merchant princes of Glasgow have bought extensive properties and handed them to the city—the Bairds, the great ship-builders on the Govan side, are among those who have shown their generosity in* this way. In connection with the parks it has been arranged that the principal military and other bands of the city shall play selections on two afternoons in each week. In Edinburgh one of the military bands gives an afternoon concert on the Castle Grounds every Sunday in the summer time. Bowling Greens have been established in most of the parks for the use of working men, and are well patronised. The famous Glasgow Green, for many years almost the only place of resort of that kind accessible to the people, has undergone great changes. Many parts have been railed off and planted and improved, and a People’* Palace has been erected, part of which is devoted to the purposes of a fine art gallery. Sunday Traffic. The tram cars run on Sunday, but very few trains. The Caledonian Company rarely run a train between Glasgow and Edinburgh on Sunday ; the North British Company are allowed to run one or two. Talking about Edinburgh, High street and Canongate, The Historic Thoroughfare of that city, has been for some years one of its worst slum streets. The spacious dwellings of the nobility who once lived there passed into the hands ot land and house-grabbers, who divided the mansions into as many apartments as possible, so as to secure the utmost amount in rents, and made no provision in the way of yards or courts. The result is that on washing days the present occupants place their clothes on frames, and project these from the windows out into the street, so that the passerby sees all kinds of garments fluttering overhead—a sorry substitute for the pomp and pageantry witnessed there in the stirring days of old. It is, however, satisfactory to add that schemes are on foot for bringing about a better state of things—in fact an improvement has already been effected in the Castle end of the street. However, leaving the past for the present, it is now the rule in connection with new buildings both in Glasgow and in Edinburgh to make ample provision in the way of yards, etc. The Civic authorities in Glasgow, recognising that they owed a duty to the workers, many of whom receive very small wages, erected a number of Model Lodging Houses for single women, single men, and widowers and widows with families. In' the houses for single men and women there is a large dining room on the ground floor, which can be converted into a hall for a meeting, concert, or church services. At the rear is a large kitchen, round which goes wuat looks like a circular iron counter, but which is really a huge stove. Any man, however poor, can come in, and he will be provided, free of cost, with water, a tin vessel, and certain dishes, and can cook his meal at the stove ; 40 or 50 persons can do this simultaneously. There is also a store attached to the dining room at jvhich provisions are sold at the cheapest possible rates. The two upper flats, or three as the case may be, are devoted to bedrooms—mote correctly called, by reason of their

smallness, cubicles. The charge for their nse ranges from 2d'to 6d according to their size, so that for a very few pence a person can secure a meal and a bed. The lodging bouses are well patronised. In the case of a widowei with a family, if he goes to work, the matron or the master sees that the children are sent to school, while for those who do not go there is a playroom on the top storey, and an asphalted playground on the roof of an adjoining building. There are also rooms in which games can be played by adults in the evenings. The houses are made as Homelike as possible, and their success has been so great that several lodginghouse keepers have built places on the same lines to compete with them, and provide even better accommodation for the same rates. However they cannot go far beyond the municipal standard, seeing that the Council runs the houses on a sound business footing, but not for the purpose of making profits.